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*Enniscorthy Christian Fellowship – 24th December 2007*
*The Angel’s Song: Peace on Earth*
Someone has said that Christians aren’t allowed to tell lies – they just sing them!
That’s because the songs we sing in church don’t always reflect the reality of our lives.
But when it comes to angels, surely they must always sing the truth.
Tonight we’ve once again read the song that the angels sang on the night Jesus was born.
Someone has said that there are 3 phrase that sum up Christmas: “Peace on Earth; Goodwill to Men; and Batteries not included.”
Well this is what the angels actually said: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.”
Luke 2:14
What a song of praise of God.
But it also was a song of promise to men!
A promise of peace or Shalom.
This means well-being, blessedness, security and completeness.
This is a promise of complete transformation of our lives - spoken into a world full of fear, discontentment and hopelessness.
So were the angels singing the truth?
Did Jesus’ birth bring peace on earth?
*1) **World Peace?*
Christmas is called a season of love and giving.
It usually make us more generous and compassionate to others.
And certainly Christmas has had a peacemaking effect at times.
There is a remarkable story from the first Christmas Day of World War I in 1914.
On that day the British and German troops put down their guns and celebrated peacefully together in the no-man’s land between the trenches.
Soldiers on opposite sides sang carols, shook hands, exchanged gifts of tobacco, jam, sausage, chocolate, and even played soccer between the shell holes and barbed wire.
The army generals were shocked and worried that if that sort of thing spread then the soldiers wouldn’t be willing to fight anymore.
Unfortunately, they didn’t need to worry.
The madness of war quickly resumed, claiming over 10 million lives.
The truth is that this baby’s first coming did not end all war and fighting.
Of course Jesus is coming back – then Isaiah tells us he will bring world peace:
“He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into ploughshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war any more.”
Isaiah 2:4
But this wasn’t what the angels were singing about when Jesus was born.
Even if all wars had ended, there would still not be peace.
A guy called Epictetus said this about the Roman Emperor who had imposed a kind of peace on his empire: “While the
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Emperor may give peace from war on land or sea, he is unable to give peace from passion, grief and envy.
He cannot give peace of heart, for which man yearns for more than even for outward peace.”
*2) **A Peaceful Life?*
But what about our lives?
Did the birth of Jesus make our lives peaceful, hassle and stress free?
Well Christmas should be a nice holiday, but for many of us it is more like this: “12 Days of Christmas video”
\\ A survey in the US has calculated what mums should earn if they were paid the going rate for all the festive chores they do in the month up to December 25.
They included 46 hours cooking, 96 hours spent choosing gifts, 12 hours making costumes for nativity plays, 62 hours organising events, and 32 hours as party hostess.
The total bill would come to around $35,000.
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If only we had learned from the proverb: “Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.”
Proverbs 17:1
*3) **A different kind of peace*
So what did the angels mean by “Peace to men.” Well Jesus said: “My peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
John 14:27
So this is a different kind of peace.
A peace that is not dependent on our circumstances.
That cannot be robbed from us by the tragedies of life!
It is a peace that “transcends all understanding.”
Philippians 4:7 It is a peace in our hearts.
* *
*4) **Peace through Jesus*
It is a peace that is found in a person – the baby born a Saviour! Paul writes: “He himself is our peace.”
Ephesians 2:14 Jesus is our peace because he came to solve the root cause of all our problems, all of our emptiness, all of our fears.
Paul writes: “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:1
Jesus brought us into the security and satisfaction of a loving relationship with the “God of peace.”
(Romans 15:33).
The peace of knowing that no matter what happens in our lives – nothing and no-one can separate us from the love of God.
The peace of that we’re held securely in our Father’s hands.
That we have a place in heaven because our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
The peace of knowing that we’re never alone!
That God is always working for our good even in the toughest of situations.
The peace of knowing that we can hand over every issue and problem to our Father.
This is the peace that comes from knowing Jesus as our Saviour!
As our Immanuel, our Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, our Lord, High Priest, Mediator, our Teacher, our Good Shepherd, and our Friend.
Jesus did all of this “by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
Colossians 1:19-20.
Jesus brought this true peace, this true completeness in the loving embrace of our heavenly Father by paying the full price of our reconciliation with God.
As Isaiah promised more than 700 years before Jesus’ birth: Isaiah 53:6
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
It is from this peace with God we experience peace with others as we are changed by God’s Grace to express to others the same grace and forgiveness that God has given to us.
And from this we also find the peace with ourselves.
We know deep in our hearts that we are loved, accepted, forgiven, adopted, blessed, valued.
This is a peace worth singing about!
A transformation of our lives from struggling to be good enough for God, to the peace of knowing that no are his child!
*5) **Peace to You?*
But we could miss out on this peace!
The angel’s song said: “peace to men on whom his favour rests.”
Who are those on whom God’s favour rests?
Well it is not those you might expect.
It has nothing to do with social standing or religious zeal!
This song was not heard first of all in the temples or palaces of the day.
It was a song for a bunch of shepherds on a hillside.
The promise was given to ordinary people in the middle of their everyday lives.
But it was not enough just to hear the message.
They responded to it.
“The shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
Luke 2:15.
This peace is not given to those who by their efforts or religion think they are good enough.
God’s favour rests on anyone who simply does what these shepherds did.
Those who accept his grace “through faith,” Romans 5:1.
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